Pavement



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

' W. P. HIGGINS.

PAVEMENT.

No. 510,259. Patehted Dec. 5, 1893.

NITED STATES WILLIAM FRANCIS HIGGINS, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

PAVEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,259, dated December 5, 1893.

Application filed May 27, 1393. Serial No. 475,773- (No specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANCIS HIG- GINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, Multnomah county, State of Oregon, have invented an Improvement in Pavements; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to a novel pavement for roadways.

It consists in the combination of interlocking prismoidal blocks in conjunction with a concrete supporting foundation and boundary curbs, and a grouting of cement, asphaltuin or other suitable material whereby the blocks are firmly interlocked and inter-dependent upon each other for support.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my inventionFigure 1 is a view of a section of my pavement. of a part of my pavement. Fig. 3 are views of separate paving blocks. Fig. 4, is a perspective View of a portion of a pavement embodying my invention.

In the construction of my pavement I employ blocks A which are made of trapezoidal or rhomboidal cross section at right angles with each other, the top and bottom surfaces being parallel planes. These blocks are made of any suitable paving material as wood, vitrified. brick, concrete or asphalt, and of any suitable or desired size.

In laying my pavement, I first prepare the roadway by setting cement or stone curbing B upon the sides,in the usual manner. The street is then rounded or arched in convex form from curb to curb,and a cement or concrete foundation 0 is laid having the same curvature as the surface of the street. This concrete foundation is of any suitable or desired depth, depending upon the traffic or usage of the street. Upon this concrete foundation my paving blocks are laid from side to side in rows and alternating so that they stand as shown in Fig. 1, with the blocks A having their longest diameters in the direction transversely to the street and blocks A set intermediately between the blocks A having their shortest top diameters in thesame direction, and the longest top diameters in the di- Fig.2 is a perspective View rection of the length of the street. The bottom surfaces of the blocks, by reason of the taper of the sides and ends, will be exactly reversed from the top, that is, those having the longest sides in one direction on the top, will have the shortest sides in that direction at the bottom. These rows of blocks are laid, so that in each row the long and short tops break joints with the corresponding ones in the two adjacent rows, that is, the blocks having the shortest diameters in the direction of the length of roadway are abutted upon each side by blocks having the longest diameters in that direction, and thus having the shortest diameters in the direction of the width of the roadway abutting against those having the longest diameters in that direction. By this construction, when the pavement is finished, each block having a wedge shape upon opposite sides with the smallest diameter at the bottom is supported upon its opposite sides by blocks having a similar wedge shape, with the longest base in linewith the shorter base of the supported blocks, while the adjacent blocks at right angles with these are correspondingly supported by the diverging sides of the first mentioned blocks, the bases of which are longest in that direction. Thus every block is supported in one direction between two others with diverging bases and in the direction at right angles with these, it in turn serves to support the abutting ends of two other blocks which fit against it. This construction leaves spaces between the blocks, and also spaces between these at the sides and the curbing. These spaces are filled with a grouting of cement, asphaltum, or other suitable material, for the purpose of binding the blocks together, and the surface is prefb y covered with a coating D of asphaltum and fine gravel, in order to form a foot-hold for horses and to protect and preserve the paving blocks.

If cement be used, the spaces between the blocks Will be partially filled with the cement and the asphaltum will form the remainder of the filling and the surface.

If the blocks are made of large size, they may be grooved or channeled upon the surface to afford a foothold for. horses.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let tors Patent, is

An improved pavement consisting of a base or foundation of concrete or cement with curbing at the sides, the solid blocks A and A laid side by side upon said base, said blocks being wedge-shaped and relatively reversed so that the longest diameters of those of one series shall extend transversely of the street While the blocks of the other series are placed intermediate of those of the first named series with their longest diameters extending in the direction of the length of the street whereby hand.

WILLIAM FRANCIS HIGGINS.

\Vitnesses:

A. BALMANNO, ARTHUR P. TIFFT. 

